


Attachment

by Steamed_Tets



Category: The Property of Hate
Genre: Character Study, Gen, its sad RGB hours
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:20:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23776741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steamed_Tets/pseuds/Steamed_Tets
Summary: RGB promises himself that he won't get attached anymore, blocking off his feelings, shutting down, distancing himself. Whatever it takes so that when the pain comes again as it always seems to do, this time it won't hurt so bad.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 31





	1. The Old Heroes Dead

_ Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz CLICK! _

RGB awoke with a small jump, screen clicking to life and cold air piercing him from all around. He gave his arms a small shake to bring the feeling back to them just a tad. The graveyard felt cold and damp, not the best place to spend the night, but it was safer than most. Being a graveyard it kept stray wanderers away. Ghosts creeping around in the night had that effect. He sighed to himself, leaning back against one of the graves that had no name and turned his attention to the sky. To distract himself he supposed. The time after losing yet another Hero was never a pleasant one. After all, he had to find a place for them here and by then he’d be shipped off all over again to find another Hero. All before he really had time to contemplate the fact that he’d failed again, that he’d marched yet another soul to their end. The thought occurred to him that perhaps he truly was beginning to run out of time on this quest. He only had a handful of chances left, he was sure of it.

Suddenly a voice spoke,  _ “In a hurry to clear out and move on to the next one are we?” _

RGB suppressed a laugh, “Oh please, you know better than anyone that I have all the time in the world. Why on Earth would I need to rush?” 

_ “You know very well why. Besides, I’ve never cared much for your jokes.” _

RGB pulls himself to his feet, careful to brush off his pants from sitting on the ground, “I take no offense, no one ever has.” 

_ “Mmmm. Right, once you reach the Key Frame you’re free to step through, this location is much more desirable than the last.” _

RGB started walking, “For my sake, I hope you’re right about that.”

When no reply came he assumed himself to be alone yet again. Pity, not that he wasn’t used to it of course. Some Heroes made it farther than others after all. Though he supposed he had to be grateful to the previous for trying, and for making the journey back plenty easier on himself. Not that he fully deserved it from then he supposed. Though the others would not have been, have never been so fully kind to him since they became monsters. Maybe the previous had been the most human of all. 

With a careful snap of his fingers, his bamboo cane gracefully spun into his hand, seamlessly twirling between his fingers before he rested it at his side and used it for show like he had done so many times before. Practiced habits of an actor who never got his break. He knew his role to play in this story, though perhaps he wasn’t playing it quite so well. He thought back to the previous. So young, so different, and not even human at that! They had done so well considering the odds stacked against them too, making it all the way to that dead tree. A shame what Fears were capable of if they were left to roam free. RGB still wasn’t sure how he had made it out of that one, but unfortunately, his hero had not.

And now he needed to start all over again. Rebuild his walls and prepare for the journey to begin once more. It was exhausting if RGB were being honest, not that he really ever did that either. To start all over again, needing to try harder and harder to keep his walls in place. It would be better for everyone if he did and he knew that. However, that didn’t make it any easier. Scenery changed as he walked along, back to the Pool of Tears before he had even realized it. Not much further to go now, he wasn’t sure he was ready for this, he didn’t think he could do this charade all over again so soon. He’d had all this time to think but it hadn’t felt like he’d processed a single thing. And now he was about to be sent off again. Off to a world he no longer belongs in to find another Hero. Cyan ink poured from the edge of his screen, an almost obscene amount dripping off the edge to the ground below. Once he reached the top of this hill he’d have to begin his search anew.

“Now, now RGB. Pull yourself together old chap. You’ve done this plenty a time before, you can do it again.” He said aloud, speaking solely to himself. “You’ve found plenty of new heroes before and you’ll do it again. This one is going to be the one I say, I can feel it!” He forced a smile on his face as he reached the top of the hill. A single, golden, Key Frame sat at the top, small, white shimmers glistening off of it the closer RGB got. He opened his jacket and fished a key out of an inner pocket, holding it up to the lock where the eye could see it. Settling it in and giving a small twist unlocked it and introduced him to a room where the floor was made entirely of clouds and Key Frames littered the are like toys that had yet to be put away after a busy day spent playing. Wherever it was that had been picked for him to go next he could only hope it wasn’t damn near as hot as the last had been. 

With a few short steps and a flip of the handy key in his hand, he reached the second Key Frame on his journey. He took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh, steeling the last of his nerves before he went looking. He wasn’t going to let this continue to happen. He needed this hero to be the one because if they weren’t the fate of this world and all the ones attached to it, were beyond at stake. He wouldn’t let his feelings get in the way any longer. He needed to succeed this time if he didn’t...he wasn’t sure what he’d accomplish. He had failed so many times up until this point with the impossible quest, but it needed to be done. Something had to be done, and although he would care to protest, it was up to him to help get the job done. 

Stepping down the cloud stairs to a lone apartment roof. RGB straightened out his jacket and looked over the skyline, the sun would be coming up soon. Though he’d love to stay and check out the beautiful city and its many views, he had a job to do. Turning his head he spotted a couple of attic windows. A small smile came to his face, tapping the end of his cane on the window caused it to open towards him with no resistance. One might consider this breaking and entering but he would be long gone before anyone came looking for him. He slipped inside, the window closing behind him. Climbing down a small ladder out of the attic led him into a dark hallway which didn’t give him much to go on. Sliding through the hallway, quiet steps muffled even further by the rug lining the hallway made his job all the more easier. He reached the end of the hall and turned to the door on the left, opening it with the tiniest of creaks and peeking inside he noticed a bunk bed. But this was odd. There was only one child on it. He stepped inside, closing the door behind him and climbed up onto the dresser to get a better look, he had never been particularly tall. 

He smiled, “I say,” when he got no response from the obviously sleeping child he cleared his throat, or he would if he had one, and tried again, “I said, I say.” 

The child rolled over and looked at him curiously with wide eyes, brown hair stuck to her head proved she had been sleeping rather soundly since there was no sign of a bed-head. A shame he had to wake her he supposed.  _ She would do very well. If she lasts that is, _ he thought.

“Would you like to be a Hero?” 


	2. The New Hero

It had taken entirely too long, in RGB’s personal opinion, to get this child moving and ready to go. After he had lifted her off of her bunk bed,  _ Honestly, why is she bothering to sleep on the top bunk if the ladder hurts her feet anyway? _ Once she’d gotten her coat and boots on she had quietly said her love for her mother before she was ready. RGB frowned as she had. He was frustrated that she was taking so long but immediately saddened by this action that she took, and what he was going to have to do now that she had already said yes. He could respect her though, maybe if her pace picked up just a tick she really could do this. Once she was ready he led her back down the hall, up the ladder, and out through the same window he’d come in from. The sun, finally beginning to rise, painting the sky in deep, dark blues and bright yellows and oranges signaling the coming of the morning. 

“Mmm. Well then! Shall we be off?” He asked, snapping his fingers, his bamboo cane responding instantly and swinging into his hand once again. He tapped the top end of it against a smoke top, smoke stairs formed from the white fluff coming out of the top of the cylinder. He lifted her up so she could begin walking up the solid cloud steps, he climbed up just behind her and they started walking, the stairs disappearing once his feet had left them.

“I saw this in a movie once!” She said, a huge grin on her face as she kept her arms out to keep her balance while she climbed. 

“You don’t say,” RGB added, holding his hat against his head and looking down at the city below them, yellow ink subtly dripping from the edge of his screen. 

When the girl broke the barrier of clouds she rolled over herself and started rolling around, laughing loudly as though she hadn’t a care in the world. RGB heard her as he began to break the barrier. 

“You are...entertained?” He asked, brushing stray fluff from his coat. 

“It’s so fluffy!” She shouted, rolling over and sitting up

“Having established that, if we may-” He paused, looking to see she had crafted herself a beard from the fluffy substance, “Proceed.” 

She stood up and brushed off her coat thoroughly and asked if she was dead. He was shocked and quickly replied that he certainly hoped she wasn’t and how complicated that would be. She seemed to take that as a suitable answer. The thought occurred to him that he had only worked with a child on one previous occasion and, perhaps, he wasn’t going to be as up to this with her being the hero as he thought. How old was she anyway? Blue ink dripped from his face, he hadn’t truly considered that either, he had just wanted to find a hero and get back as soon as he could. Who knew how much time he truly had left after all? 

“RGB.” He stated, pulling the key out of his inner coat pocket again. 

“RGB?” She asked, her tone rising in curiosity. It made him smile.

“My name! Rather catchy isn’t it?” He asked, gesturing to himself as he put the key in the eye-lock and opened the door. He stepped to the side, putting one hand behind his back and gesturing to the now open door to a new world for her, very gentleman-like if he did say so himself. “Well, after you Hero.”

The two of them walked through the golden doorway and mere feet into the walk she sat down complaining of being tired. 

“You could rest here, but you would not rise again.” He explained matter-of-factly while helping her to her feet and strolling ahead. The two of them walked for a while in silence. As they walked, the young Hero carefully reached out her hand, but as soon as she had taken hold of his own hand he snatched it away just as fast. The two stared at each other for a moment before RGB continued walking. He couldn’t let himself get attached to her, and he couldn’t let her get attached to him. 

“This is far enough. You may stop.” He instructed, taking a place near a pool of water under a tree.

“Is it safe?”

“Safer.” He replied, taking his hat off, “Do you dream?” 

  
She nodded, “Then we’ll be fine.” Her quiet reply didn’t do much to soothe his nerves, however. She had drifted off entirely too easily, RGB had noticed. Of course she was a child, unknowing of the dangers she had just laid out in front of her, or the fact she had just left her life behind for good. He sighed, feeling bad for her as he did for most heroes. What on earth would he do when she found out? What would he tell her in response? He hadn’t needed to tell the last hero because they couldn’t even speak English not that it had mattered so much since they had, well it didn’t matter now.  _ She’s incredibly young, unorthodox even for me. No matter. The important thing is that she gets some sleep. And that she wasn’t lying about dreaming.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is super short my b, the next one will probably be longer!


	3. The Plains of Hesitation

“Gotcha!” RGB said, his face breaking out into a huge grin as he caught both his cane and Hero out of the air. 

“Wh-What happened?” Hero asked, rubbing her head carefully.

RGB frowned as he ran, he’d grit his teeth if he could, “Oh nothing, you were just getting a little carried away is all.” 

“It’s getting up and it’s eating.”

“Oh goody. They do that. Ideas consume the world around them, including the inhabitants. Hence the running.” 

“Why don’t you just scare it off?” 

“Well why don’t you?”  _ Honestly, _ by this point RGB was becoming rather annoyed with the questions and assumptions. Red ink dripped from his face as he ran, hoisting Hero higher under his arm so that she wouldn’t fall. 

“Can you stop it?”   
  


“No.”

“Stun it?”

“No.”

“Trap it?”    
  


RGB groaned internally. He’d roll his eyes if he had any, “I do believe I am beginning to repeat myself.” 

“...Can you-?”

RGB actually groaned and hoisted her so he could look her in the eye, “What do you not comprehend about this? It. Is. An. Idea! It can not be stopped! They do not die, age and they most certainly do not give up! They will eat anything and everything they come across! Our only chance is to keep running and hope that it becomes distracted by something.” 

She never spoke a word through all of this. Instead she raised her hand and gently set it on one of the dials on his face. 

“What are you do-” before he could finish his sentence she changed the channel and his screen immediately swapped to some commercial and the two of them fell to the ground. RGB took a minute to process what had just happened and by the time he had he wished he could scream, she’d just doomed the both of them to get consumed by this Idea! He was furious to say the least! And worst of all he could not even see what was happening anymore, he could only watch the channels as she flipped through them quickly from inside his own head. When she finally settled on a channel it was some kind of sales show that RGB didn’t recognize. 

After only three minutes RGB guessed his channel was changed again and he could see once more. He put a hand to his head and rubbed it a little, a small but all the same overwhelming headache starting. He turned to face her, “I do hope this is the best explanation I’ve ever heard.” 

All she did was silently point in front of him. He turned his head to see the flattened, gray, and sad Idea draped over him, “AH! Get it off! Get it off immediately!” He shouted brushing it off and scooting back to stand up. “Interesting, you bored it to tears. Unorthodox but incredibly effective.” 

“I was so sure it was a good idea.” She said quietly, crouching down to look at the Idea closely. 

“I never said it wasn’t.” He replied, brushing off his coat and pants, “Now come along, we mustn’t bother with trifles.” After a minute of walking he paused, “Well, are you coming?” 

The two of them walked for a long while in silence, something RGB greatly appreciated after the chaos that had come out of this morning. It gave RGB time to think. They were almost to the fields of hesitation, thankfully despite the chaos they were still making very good progress. They would be in the Market before too long. That was a huge plus in his own personal opinion. Something he had noticed however was that Hero had incredibly slowed down her pace and was barely faster than a snail. 

“...Is molasses just your default speed or are you purposely antagonizing me?” He stopped. 

She stopped, “...RGB, where are we?” 

“Well, this place is called the Plains of Hesitation, though oddly enough it’s not a great place to hesitate. Though I suppose-” As he turned to face her he noticed her rather deadpan expression, “Ah, you meant literally?” He took a minute to try to think through his answer and tried to explain that it was not as straightforward as one might assume. Rather it was actually incredibly complicated to explain, to the point that not even he himself knew how to do it. 

In the midst of his ramblings however she interrupted him, “I want to go back.”

He faced her and waited. It hurt. More than anything to know that she wanted to go back. But that wasn’t going to happen. It couldn’t. He’d tried before many times. “You can’t.” His voice was cold, even for him, and he wished more than anything that he could take it back, but he needed to be cold, for the sake of both of them. He turned and started walking once more, “Now keep up.” 

And then the arguments started and RGB verbally expressed how much he hated this bit. She shouted at him in anger and protest, and he couldn’t do anything besides stand there and take it, trying to explain that she was not herself anymore and that she couldn’t go back. But like the others before her, she denied it, simply couldn’t believe the wild yet true claims he was making. It infuriated him that he had to experience this over and over again every single time like a bad plotline. His voice started to rise into shouts of frustration the longer the fight went on and the more he tried to explain. 

When she’d finally given up trying to remember her own name she began to cry. His heart ached. It burned.

“You’re mean and confusing, and I hate you! I hate you!!” She shouted.

He froze, red, yellow, and blue ink dripped heavily from his face. “...Fine. You can’t go back and you won’t go forward. Just stay there, die. See if I give a damn.” He turned and started walking away. He was angry, furious even. He hated whenever the Heroes got like this. Couldn’t they see that he was trying to help them save the world? All of the worlds in fact? And that he was doing everything in his power to protect them while they were? Why couldn’t they understand that? The whining and the screaming and the nagging from  _ all _ of them! It pissed him off, pardon the language. “I don’t need her, maybe I don’t need anyone. Maybe...maybe it’s time I stopped all this finally.” He paused, “Wait a minute, that’s not right. Oh, where in blazes?” He searched himself, grumbling as he did. Doubts could be incredibly cumbersome and annoying when they wanted to be. 

“Oh for pity’s sake! I leave you alone for two minutes and goodness, why must you things be so absolutely disgusting!” He shouted pulling Doubt after Doubt off of Hero. That’s when he noticed the long dark spikes sprouting up from the ground, “...Now that’s just not fair.” He quickly reached into his coat pocket only to barely miss getting hit, the wind from the blow nearly blowing the hat off his head, by a Grief punching the ground behind him. Complaining will get him nowhere. He stood up, scooping Hero up as he did, and started running, snapping his fingers to call his cane to his side. 

“This is bad, bad, BAD!” He’d fallen to his face and only had a second to reset himself before the Grief’s fist fully collided with his face and sent him flying. It hurt, worse than that it burned hotter than Hellfire. When he finally hit the ground and bounced like a pathetic ragdoll he could barely process what had just happened, let alone how he had even survived the blow. Water poured over his body and that only filled him with a horrible shocking sensation. He begged, pleaded for the Grief to stop, that he was sorry they were upset, that he wanted, no  _ needed _ them to stop and that he’d help if he could. He felt so weak, so confused and scared, yellow and blue ink poured from his face like a flood as his voice began to give out. Despite his begging the tears of the Grief were frying his circuits. It hurt. Worse than anything he had ever experienced, it felt like he was dying all over again and it scared him and he  _ hated _ that. Before long, his begs were silenced, his vision went black and so did his screen.

  
He wasn’t sure how long it had been when he finally came to, or where and how he had gotten there. Not to mention that he felt right horrible all over, but he sat at the base of a sad, long-dead tree, positively covered in  **_~~REDACTED~~ _ ** . Hopefully, his Hero would have some answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i tried to like black out the word for the stuff like in the comic but alas, i can't on ao3 and "redacted" is just how i hear the black box in my head so thats what it is


	4. Stuck Up a Tree

Foot wrapped around one of the branches of the deceased tree, he frowned and crossed his arms, “And I suppose you think that was very clever?” He struggled and pulled himself up so he was upright once more and worked to be level with her among the branches, “Look, I think we’d better start overrrrrand you’re gone.” 

He hopped down a branch, chasing after her, “Would you please just listen to me for a moment?” 

“No!” 

“It’s bad for you to be up this late! And this is no place to play games!” He jumped onto a branch and hauled himself over it. He’d never consider himself athletic, but at least he could keep up with her among the branches, though it was even more dangerous with the tree being sick. She shouted back at him and he huffed to himself. 

“I am not playing games!” 

“Are so!”

“Am not!” 

“Then stop chasing me!” She shouted back, pulling herself higher still. 

RGB wanted to scream out of pure frustration. The mere thought that he was playing around was preposterous! “Wh- This is not a game of tag young lady!” 

“Then don’t! I didn’t ask you to!” She shouted, grabbing yet another branch and swinging herself under it onto the next. RGB had to admit, though it was irritating, she was very good at this. “I am  _ trying _ to assist you! You thankless reprobate!”

“I don’t know what one of those is but if I’m one then so are you! Meany!” 

“Why you little guttersnipe!” He shouted, trying to hide the growl in his voice as he leaped after her, weaving through the branches to the best of his ability but he wasn’t as swift as she was. This was beginning to wear him out. 

The two sat on opposite ends of the tree tossing insults back and forth without a care, RGB felt red ink dripping from his face. This was ridiculous and he felt ridiculous too, arguing with a child like this. This was no way to act, but he couldn’t help but stew in his angry thoughts. She had even called him a dumbass! The nerve! The mere audacity of the things she’d called him, though he supposed, he was no better. But what was he to do? He was just trying to get her through this and she had the nerve to call him such things! Why he ought to-

“Blighterpoop.” A creaky voice chimed in, pulling him out of his thoughts in a shocked state, something that had happened to Hero as well apparently, judging by a quick glance. RGB puts a hand over the bottom of his screen to stifle a laugh, Hero does too. 

“Again! Do it again!” Hero shouts at the tiny sock and their new friend happily obliges, only causing RGB to burst into uncontrollable laughter along with Hero herself. Hero herself falling back onto the branch and RGB doubling over, green ink steadily pouring from his screen. The small piece of clothing kept repeating words only causing him to laugh harder, it didn’t help in the slightest that Hero’s laugh was in fact very contagious and only made RGB laugh harder. 

That is until she quite literally laughs so hard she rolls right out of the tree. 

“Oh damnation.” RGB frowns as cyan ink slowly begins to drip from his screen as his muscles relax in sadness as Heros body collapses over a spike in the tree. The small, green sock immediately started apologizing over and over again, RGB felt the all too familiar strings pull at his heart as he climbed back up, gently patting the creature on the head, covering his face and trying to soothe them and himself at the same time. Accidents happen, even ones as painful as this. 

“Yeah, it was an accident!” Hero shouted from below, trying to push herself up.

“YOU’RE STILL ALIVE?!” RGB shouted, hoisting himself to the next highest branch in utter shock. “What on Earth are you made out of?” 

She struggled to push herself off the spike only to slide further down, “I dunno, stuff?” 

He braced his legs against opposite branches and helped to hoist her off the spike, red ink dripping down at being upside down for the nth time today. Though if he were to be honest with himself, the schism opening back up was bad, but he was more than relieved that Hero was alive. He hoisted her back up into the tree before climbing up himself, tossing her his jacket and agreeing to sleep in a tree, just this once of course. With Assok joining their little adventure party, he hopes that things will be even the tiniest bit easier for Hero. He leaned back into the tree, putting his hat over his head. If he were to be truthful, he had hope that she could pull this off. She could do this, she could be the true hero this world needs. He just hoped he’d get to see her through the whole way there. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic and the way im writing it changes with every chapter i Swear but if you're still here thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying it and thanks for sticking around!


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